Mobius Network, a turnkey blockchain-enabling data platform, closed its MOBI token ICO in just two hours. More than 55,000 registered for the public token sale, the first to be built on and supported by Stellar, as opposed to Ethereum. The sale was originally scheduled to run through Feb. 18. The token sale hit $39 million, according to crowdfundinsiser.com, and could be the largest ICO of 2018. The MOBI token allows companies and consumers to exchange data by smart contracts and plug into the blockchain ecosystem. Individual buyers were limited to a maximum of 25,000 tokens each in order to ensure as many people could participate as possible in the sale. Only Stellar Lumens (XLM) was accepted as payment. ICO Follows Record Pre-SaleThe MOBI pre-sale was the largest of Q4 2017 and of 2018, with more than $35 million in sales, and was oversubscribed by an additional $10 million.”It’s important for us to continue to help push the blockchain community into safer, faster, and more secure protocols,” said David Gobaud, CEO and co-founder of Mobius. “Our patent-pending technology will have broad implications for businesses being able to operate more efficiently and with greater capability in the blockchain ecosystem. Our successful offering is further validation of our token’s real-world utility.”Mobius secured an additional $1.9 million in investments via the Y Combinator SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). Participants included Angel Chain Capital, based in Beijing, and Waltonchain, a blockchain ecosystem. These investors participated in both the token sale and SAFE investment round. Waltonchain also has a Top 50 token listed, the Walton Coin (WTC).”Mobius’ blockchain software is the perfect synergy to Waltonchain’s hardware expertise in building next-generation smart devices,” said Dr. Mo Bing, CEO of Waltonchain. “We believe the team and company have a bright future and can help us lead the hardware revolution — creating scalable blockchain solutions and integrating secure smart contracting capabilities on our next generation hardware devices. We look forward to building exciting things together.”Bridging Blockchain And InternetThe core premise of Mobius is to bridge the gap between the Internet and blockchain, which will facilitate the mainstream adoption of the blockchain. Mobius closes the gap between the two through a multifaceted solution creating easy developer tools, a consumer DApp Store, and a “Smart Market” to allow efficient transactions of processed real-world data between autonomous agents. The individual segments of the project can themselves be different blockchain based companies. Primitive developer tools and protocols are the first problem identified by Mobius towards the mainstream adoption of the blockchain. Current blockchain developer APIs and frameworks are very hard to use. Mobius plans to convert millions of traditional app developers into blockchain developers through simple and standardized protocols. The Mobius dApp store will facilitate easy discovery and adoption of distributed applications. The Mobius tokens will be the default payment option on the dApp store, however, by using Mobius APIs, developers can accept payments in other cryptocurrencies. A comparable example would be Stripe, which enables a vendor to accept payments from different networks like Visa, Mastercard via a single interface. This will provide a broad audience base to the dApp developers. Projects facilitating inter-blockchain communication are based on a similar premise. Also read: ICO analysis: MobiusSmart Market ProtocolThe final aspect of the Mobius Network is the creation of smart market protocol which will facilitate buying and selling of services and data between multiple parties in an auction like system. One of the use cases of the smart market protocol is automated bidding and selling data feeds coming in from IoT devices via smart contracts. Mobius is based on the Stellar platform. Stellar can support around 1,000 transactions per second, along with microtransactions. The MOBI tokens will be used for transactions within the platform, although developers can also receive payments in their own tokens. Network effects will incentivize developers to use MOBI tokens. To promote the platform, users and developers will be rewarded with MOBI in the initial stages of use. Featured image from Shuttersotck